A FFX-2 Original Fan Fiction
"I've come to you 'cause I need guidance
to be true and I just don't know
where I can begin."
-Criminal, Fiona Apple
Chapter Two
Uneasy
-------------------
Lenne stepped off the stage and into Shuyin's arms following the biggest performance of her life. One full set and two encores should have exhausted her, but instead, she felt wide awake, alive. Every nerve ending in her body vibrated and she felted as if electricity coursed her veins. This was absolutely the most fantastic feeling in the world and she wanted to end each day feeling this way, for the rest of her life.
Shuyin spun her around and kissed her on the mouth. "I'm so proud of you, baby!" he exclaimed. "You were great!" When he set her on her feet, he showered her face in kisses, still praising her.
"I felt amazing out there," she said. "Like I could change the world."
"You looked amazing . . ." he said. He cupped her face in his hands and smiled down at her. "You are amazing."
For a moment, there was just the two of them, as if everything and everyone around them had disappeared. This was the life she wanted. This was the dream she'd secretly hoped would come true for a long time. If she never sang in public again, it wouldn't matter because she'd always have this moment to remember for the rest of her life. It was perfect.
"Ready to go home?" Shuyin asked.
She nodded.
"Good, because I have a surprise for you when we get there."
"I love surprises. What is it?" she asked.
"You'll see when we get there," he said and guided her toward the back entrance of the theater.
"Pardon me, Lady Lenne?" an elderly gentleman said as they approached the door. "I don't wish to hold you up, but I am Machen, a professor at Zanarkand University."
"Pleased to meet you," She replied, extending her hand. "Did you enjoy the show?"
"Immensely, Lady Lenne," he said. "It was wonderful."
"Thank you, sir," she said, pleased. "What can I do for you?"
"I wanted to ask if I might have the honor of shaking your hand. That is, if this gentleman is not opposed to the idea."
"I'd be happy to," Lenne said with a sincere smile, and took his hand in hers. There was something about this gentleman that she liked, though she couldn't quite decide what it was. It might have been his kind, intelligent eyes or his warm smile. As they shook, Lenne knew that this would not be the last time their paths crossed.
"Thank you," he said in a humble voice. "You have made this old bachelor quite happy."
"I'm glad," she said.
"Please, don't let an old man like me keep you. I'm sure you have celebrating to do," he said.
"It was good to meet you, Machen."
"Till we meet again, Lady Lenne."
Though this man seemed kind, scholarly and gentle, she was left with a grave feeling at this brief encounter. His final words seemed more of a promise than a mere courteous statement, as if he knew something she didn't.
------
Shuyin had gone all out tonight. Lenne thought he must have spent hours transforming the kitchen into a romantic dinner for two. There was wine and candle light, soft piano music and a delicious meal he'd prepared himself. Everything was perfect. She couldn't help but think this might be the most perfect night of her life. At the end of the meal, he handed her a small package wrapped in red foil paper and tied with a violet satin bow.
"Shuyin," Lenne exclaimed, "What is this?"
He smiled at her across the table, his face illuminated by candle light. "Just a little congratulations gift."
She untied the bow and carefully removed the paper. Inside was a ring box. She gasped and stared at Shuyin.
"Open it," he urged.
She flipped he lid open. Inside was a marquis cut amethyst, set in a platinum band. "It's beautiful!" she cried.
Shuyin moved to her side, took he ring from it's box and slipped it onto her finger. The fit was perfect. "This ring is my promise to you. I'll love you forever, Lenne."
For the third time that day, Lenne was struck with a sense of impending doom. Their happiness seemed a fragile windowpane that might crack or even shatter at the slightest tap upon it's surface. The old saying, all good things must come to an end came to mind and she shuddered. Zanarkand, and maybe even Spira was on the verge of something big, that much she knew for certain. How long their care free life would last was something she didn't know, and something she didn't want to count on.
It wouldn't last.
"Lenne?" Shuyin whispered. "You looked like you were a thousand miles away for a second. Are you ok?"
"I'm fine," she said and looked down at the ring on her finger. "I'm just overwhelmed."
Try as she might, she couldn't shake that sense of disaster lurking just around the corner.
For the second night in a row, Yuna couldn't sleep. It was all because of that sphere. What did Tidus mean, he'd fix it? What was there to fix? He'd only been a dream of the Fayth, not someone who'd really existed. Once the Fayth had stopped dreaming, he'd faded, just as any dream image would once the dream ended. There wasn't any way for him to come back because he'd never really been here in the first place.
A week ago, she'd been sure about her decision to marry Baralai. He was a good match for her, and she'd fallen for him. She loved him, perhaps not the way she'd loved Tidus, but she still had strong feelings for him. Now, because of this sphere, she wasn't so sure. Suppose Tidus could fix it. Suppose, by some miracle, he reappeared in her life and she had already gone ahead and married Baralai. What then?
All Yuna knew was that deep down, she still hoped there was some way to change things, some way to make a dream real. Not the dream of the Fayth, but her dream.
She held the sphere in her hands and looked out at the sea. This time, she'd do it. She'd throw it into the bay where it would be lost forever. She couldn't keep living like this. She had to make a decision right here and now. She could either keep living in the past, searching for something that she had little chance of ever finding, or she could move on and marry Baralai, have children and live a normal life. It was her choice, but she would have to make a decision, for it wouldn't be fair to Baralai to continue her search while married to him. But the question she kept asking herself was, would she really be happy with Baralai? She cared about him, but would that be enough?
And what if she continued her search and never found him? She'd waste the best years of her life, maybe even her chance to have a family casing some silly dream that she knew wouldn't come true.
After a moment, she took a deep breath and cocked her arm back to throw the sphere into the ocean.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a familiar voice said.
Yuna whirled around in shock. He was supposed to be dead. She had to be imagining things. Behind her stood a figure that was easily recognizable, even in the darkness.
"Memories are precious," the voice said. "You may not want them now, but you will later."
"Sir Auron?" she whispered. She took a step forward to confirm what she was seeing and hearing was true. Sir Auron had gone to the Farplane following their defeat of Sin three years ago. Once a soul had crossed over, there was no coming back. It wasn't possible.
Possibility at that moment, however, seemed to have been suspended. Indeed, this was Auron, impossible or not. There was no denying it.
"Your story is not over yet, Yuna."
Yuna shook her head. "I'm done chasing shadows, Auron."
"Do you really believe that, or are you trying to convince yourself it's true?"
"For the last three years I've been looking for something that's not there! I'm tired, Auron. Tired of hoping and searching for something that's never going to happen!"
Auron chuckled. "You've been looking in the wrong places."
Yuna sat down in the sand and looked at the sphere in her palm. "My life had settled. I was going to get married, maybe start a family, and then this came along and messed everything up. You too. You come here from the Farplane, or wherever it is that you've been all this time, to tell me I've been looking in the wrong places and all I want to do is put this behind me. I want something I can count on."
"Can you count on being happy as another man's wife?"
"I don't know," she whispered. "But maybe it's better than following my heart around all the time. It hurts too much."
"You have always followed your heart Yuna. You pick your path and you walk it without regret. That is what your friends love about you. Now is one of those moments when you must choose which road you will follow. Choose your normal life with Baralai or choose to find what's missing from your life." Auron sat beside her and took the sphere from her hand.
In a small voice, she said, "I've always known which way to go, but now I feel lost. I don't know what I want. Tell me which road to pick Auron. Tell me how I'm supposed to handle this!"
"It's your choice to make."
"I get the feeling there's really only once choice, isn't there? That's why you're here," she said. She looked out at the ocean again thinking about how many times she'd visited a place in Spira and half expected to hear his whistle. In the last three years, the only place she'd ever heard it was on the Farplane. That's where he was now. She knew where to find him again, if she really wanted to.
"There are many choices in life, Yuna. Some are the right ones, some are mistakes. In the end, it's still up to you which roads you go down, and which ones you avoid."
Yuna got to her feet. She was angry now. She was tired of the cloak and dagger game. It was obvious that Auron expected something of her, and she wanted to know why he'd come at the worst possible moment. "What is it that you want from me? Why are you here? Shouldn't you be on the Farplane?" She ranted for a minute or two, then the rage drained out of her and she collapsed onto the beach. "Auron, if there's a way to find him, would you tell me?"
"No. I am only able to guide you."
"Then tell me why you're here"
Auron looked up at the stars. "I made him a promise."
"What kind of promise?"
"To look after you."
"But you're dead," she said. "You shouldn't even be here!"
"Dead I am," he agreed. "But I didn't die after your battle with sin. I died more than a thousand years ago during the machina war, alongside someone quite dear to you."
"I don't understand."
"I am more than just a ghost," Auron said. "And He was more than just a dream, Yuna."
Lenne was running, in fear for her life. Not far behind her, a squad of guards followed, guns ready to fire. They wanted to hunt her down, kill her. She knew this beyond a doubt. She knew all about their secrets and their lies. She knew they had betrayed their own teachings. She knew that machina were not to blame for this war and she knew they wanted her dead for it. They knew she would expose them. So she ran and ran, nearly becoming lost in the twisting labyrinth below the temple floor.
Just when she thought she'd never find her way, the sound of a piano guided her.
Shuyin awoke at the sound of Lenne's muted cry. He sat up and looked down at her in the darkness. Tears ran down her cheeks and she mumbled something that sounded like 'machina.' He shook her gently. "Lenne, wake up."
Her eyes opened and looked around in panic. She didn't seem to recognize him. "I know. They want me dead because I know," she cried and fought away his reassuring hands. "Shuyin, where are you?"
"I'm right here, baby" he said. "It's just a nightmare."
"No!" she cried and sat up. Her eyes focused on him, and this time she really saw him. The dream panic was washed away by relief and she threw herself into his arms.
"Shh. It's ok."
"Shuyin . . ." she whispered. "Shuyin. You're ok. You're alive."
"Of course I am, " he said, baffled. He pulled her to his chest and lay back against the pillow. He could feel her heart racing and he stroked her hair to soothe her. In all the years they'd been together, she'd never woken him in the middle of the night like this, not in this state of terror. She'd had nightmares before, once or twice perhaps, but never of this magnitude. It worried him and he couldn't help but feel like it had something to do with her strange mood earlier in the day. Whatever it was, he was almost sure it had something to do with her meeting with Lady Yunalesca.
They lay in silence for a while, their arms wrapped around one another. He continued to stroke her hair and brood about the pressure the temples were putting on her. Something wasn't right. There was something she was holding back, for what else could have upset her so much?
"Lenne?" he asked. "I know you're not supposed to tell me Temple secrets, but if you want to talk to me, you know you can trust me not to say a word, right?"
Lenne sighed and stroked his chest. "It was just a nightmare," she said. "It didn't have anything to do with the Temple."
For the first time, Shuyin didn't believe her. She'd never lied to him but he knew that she was lying now. Did the Temple have that much control over her, or was he just being paranoid?
"Shu," she whispered. "Let's go back to sleep."
"I'm not going to sleep until I know you're going to be ok."
"As long as you're here with me," she whispered.
Rikku sat cross - legged on the floor in Djose Temple sorting through a pile of bolts, in search of the one that didn't seem to be there. Not that she was paying much attention to what she was doing. Her mind was on Yuna. She hadn't stayed to see her cousin's reaction to the sphere Baralai had found, even though she should have. She knew Yuna would have a hard time with it, especially now that she'd finally decided to move on with her life.
"Maybe we shouldn't give it to her," Gippal had said.
"What do you mean we shouldn't give it to her?" Rikku cried. "This is kinda what she's been looking for since she joined the Gullwings!"
"Yeah, but, maybe it's for the best that she doesn't see it. You said she loved this guy, right?"
"She still loves him Gip. She'll always love him."
"All the more reason to leave it alone," Gippal said. "She wants to get over him, and she won't be able to after she sees it."
"I think it'll bring her some closure. Yunie needs that."
"I don't know . . ."
"Trust me. I know Yunie. She'll be ok with it."
Now, she wasn't so sure if she was right, but it was too late to take it back. By now Yuna had watched it, probably more than once. What a terrible friend Rikku was, dropping a bomb on her like that and then just taking off. She felt bad. Really bad.
She looked at the pile of bolts and sighed. "Poopie," she muttered to herself.
"Hey Firecracker," Gippal said. "Where's that bolt I asked for an hour ago?"
"Hunh?"
"The bolt?"
"Oh, heh, I, uh, didn't find it."
Gippal reached down and selected a bolt from the top of the pile. "Right here."
"Sorry," Rikku said. "I've got a lot on my mind."
"I'd tell you to take a break, but it seems you've already taken one," he chuckled and riffled Rikku's hair.
"Stop that," she complained. "I'm not your puppy."
"What's with you today?" Gippal said. "You're not yourself."
"Just thinkin' 'bout Yunie."
"You feel bad about giving her the sphere, don't you?" he said. "I told you, you should have left it alone."
"I don't feel bad about giving it to her, you dummy," Rikku fired back. "I feel bad about dumping it on her and then taking off."
Gippal crossed his arms. "That is a pretty crappy thing to do."
Rikku punched him in the arm. "Just for that, I'm taking you with me. We'll comfort Yunie together."
"Somehow, I saw this coming," Gippal mumbled and shook his head.